There’s still plenty of noise generated by Quiet Riot

Rudi Sarzo is the last mainstay standing with Quiet Riot. The venerable metal band, which sold more than 10 million copies of 1983’s “Metal Health,” has had a lineup of celebrated members.

Legendary guitarist Randy Rhoads, who founded Quiet Riot in 1973, left to write, record and tour with Ozzy Osbourne in 1980. The guitarist, who mesmerized throughout the metal anthem “Crazy Train” died in a plane crash in 1982. Vocalist Kevin DuBrow, who was the band’s larger than life frontman, died from a drug overdose in 2007. Charismatic drummer Frankie Banali, who was the focal point of the 2014 documentary, “Quiet Riot: Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back,” died from pancreatic cancer in 2020.

So Sarzo, 73, is the last remnant from the glory days of the ‘80s when Quiet Riot’s breakthrough album, “Metal Health,” became the first metal album to top the Billboard 200 chart.

“Those were amazing times,” Sarzo said while calling from his Los Angeles home. “It was awesome. Incredible.”

Even though Sarzo has played with such icons as Ozzy Osborne, the late Ronnie James Dio and Blue Oyster Cult, his favorite experience has been playing bass with Quiet Riot.

“There is no question about that,” Sarzo said. “For proof, there’s the fact that I decided to leave one of the biggest bands in the world, Ozzy Osborne, after I got a call in September of 1982, to be in a band with an unknown future because there was so much joy in Quiet Riot.”

Sarzo was part of the first incarnation of Quiet Riot in 1978.

“We were like every other band in L.A. in that we were looking for a record deal,” Sarzo said. “But it was so much more than that since it was fun being with Randy and Kevin.”

Thanks to Rhoads, Sarzo joined Osborne’s band in 1981. However, after Rhoads died in 1982, Sarzo was in disarray. While he was recovering, he received a call from DuBrow inviting him back to Quiet Riot.

“It wasn’t easy leaving for a band that had uncertainty written all over it,” Sarzo said. “But when you’re a musician, it’s got to be what you’re most excited about. I hoped that things would work out with Quiet Riot and we would find some success.”

Quiet Riot scored a major label deal and wrote and recorded “Metal Health” in 1982. The album was buoyed by the infectious cover “Cum on Feel the Noize,” written by Slade and the title track, which became a metal anthem.”

“The song, ‘Metal Health’ was inspired by what I told Kevin was happening at shows in the UK when I was playing with Ozzy,” Sarzo said. “There was no internet then so nobody knew what was going on unless you told them. I told Kevin how metal fans were literally banging their heads on the stage when we played. I could see the wheels turning in Kevin’s head and he wrote the lyrics to ‘Metal Health,’ which was huge for us.”

“Metal Health” displaced the final Police studio release, “Synchronicity,” at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart in 1983.

“It was unreal,” Sarzo said. “What I experienced was a lesson in chasing your dream and doing what you’re most passionate about. I had the greatest time with Kevin and (drummer) Frankie (Banalli). It was an experience that people dream about.”

It’s been understandably an adjustment for Sarzo.

“I’m compelled to keep this band alive, since I’m out there to celebrate the memory of Frankie, Kevin and Randy,” Sarzo said. “It’s about keeping the legacy of Quiet Riot going. This band gives me a purpose.

“Before Quiet Riot, it would just be about playing some music. Now there is a truckload of emotion when I perform.”

Quiet Riot, which also includes vocalist Jizzy Pearl, guitarist Alex Grossi and drummer Johnny Kelly, has an old-school approach.

“When you see us, it’s not about a big production,” Sarzo said. “It’s about overwhelming productions for some bands these days. There are bands out there I see with big productions and I don’t know who the members of the bands are, which is strange.

“The biggest production I was part of was with Ozzy when we had a castle behind us … But we realized that the fans were distracted by all that was going on around us and not focusing on the music. But today, bands play in front of castles on the stage and it’s designed so fans don’t focus on the band.”

Sarzo plans to keep Quiet Riot, which will co-headline with Great White, Slaughter and Autograph on Saturday at the Spokane Tribe Casino, for as long as he can.

“I’m going to focus on this band and do all that I can to keep the music alive,” Sarzo said. “The guys who passed on would love it.”

Sarzo sighed when speaking of Rhoads.

“Randy is this larger-than-life figure in death and it’s interesting to me since I think back to the days with Ozzy during the ‘80s and Randy still lived at home with his mother,” Sarzo recalled. “For some musicians playing music is about attracting girls. But for Randy, music was like food. It kept him going.

“He came from a musical family. His mother and father were music teachers. I learned so much from him.”

Sarzo and Osbourne were asleep when the prop plane clipped Osbourne’s tour bus, killing Rhoads.

“That’s what I woke up to and it was beyond awful,” Sarzo said. “Just thinking about it puts me into a funk.”

Sarzo recalls what it was like toward Dio’s last days.

“I remember seeing him in Atlantic City before his final show with Heaven and Hell,” Sarzo said. “Ronnie was nursing a beer and he said, ‘I have bad heartburn.’ ”

Shortly after that 2009 show, Dio learned that he had stomach cancer. The diminutive Dio, who possessed a massive set of pipes, died in May 2010.

“I learned so much from Dio, who was incredible,” Sarzo said. “Too many of these amazing musicians are leaving us. The job for us remaining is to carry on their legacy.”